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Giant relaunches Liv as stand-alone women’s brand

NEWBURY PARK, Calif. (BRAIN) — Giant is rebranding its dedicated women’s line, formerly known as Liv/Giant. Starting with model year 2015, Giant’s women’s-specific line of bikes, apparel and gear will be simply Liv. The company sent a letter to U.S. dealers Friday announcing the change.

Giant expects to reveal the new Liv look later this summer during a global consumer launch and at its Link dealer event. But dealers and consumers have started to get a glimpse as early 2015 model year bikes begin arriving at stores and Liv-sponsored athletes including world champion Marianne Vos of the Rabobank-Liv team and Jolanda Neff of the Liv Pro XC women’s team compete on bikes and apparel bearing the new Liv branding.

“We really wanted to give Liv its own identity and spirit,” said An Le, Giant’s global marketing director, in a recent interview with BRAIN. “This gives it a bit of separation from Giant. All of our women’s bikes are specifically designed for women in terms of the geometry. We didn’t want to lose that fact, but with the former branding, consumers thought it’s just a Giant with different component spec.”

Liv will continue to share the same distribution partners and operational support as Giant. But 2015 bikes will have very small “handcrafted by Giant” messaging on the frames.

Le said Giant made the change for a few reasons. “We feel there’s an opportunity to communicate in a stronger way to women. From our experience and standpoint, having Giant on the bike has been successful when communicating to retailers and media, but consumers have a hard time understanding these bikes are different,” he said.

Giant made a big investment when it launched its Liv/Giant women’s line back in 2011, hiring a dedicated team of women across various departments including engineering, design, product management and marketing. Le said from frame geometry to carbon layup, the Liv/Giant brand is specifically developed for women by women. The company has invested in separate molds and designs as well as a dedicated women’s demo program, and this rebranding will further create the distinction between its women’s and men’s lines.

As part of the rebranding, Giant plans to roll out dedicated Liv zones within Giant retailers to create more inviting shopping environments for women, such as at the recently opened Giant Scottsdale store. Aside from the dedicated Liv displays, Giant also will train retailers on how to provide a better experience for women.

Maja Włoszczowska (left) and Jolanda Neff of the Liv Pro XC Women’s Team show off the new Liv logo with their 2014 racing kits.

The Liv retail space within the recently opened Giant Scottsdale store represents the brand’s commitment to creating inviting retail experiences for women.